Category: United States News

But however small it is, the alt-right does have a belief system—a worldview. It’s right there, in their name. The alt in “alt-right” means “alternative.” The alt-right is an alternative to American conservatism.

So, it’s no surprise then that the alt-right has far more in common with the left—another alternative to conservatism— than it does with the traditional American right.

Let me try to untangle this.

What is the alt-right? What is its worldview? How big is it? Michael Knowles, bestselling author and host of The Michael Knowles Show, took a deep dive into alt-right culture. Here’s what he learned.

Eric Nagourney, writing for The New York Times, wants to reassure everyone that “Allahu akbar” is just a simple, “everyday phrase” used by Muslims worldwide and many times to wish others well. There’s nothing to fear, he writes, it simply means “God is great.” Nagourney laments that the phrase has been “intertwined with terrorism.” The writer quotes a random Muslim in his article, H. A. Hellyer, who regularly offers the phrase to fellow Muslims and welcomes it back from them.

“Many Westerners may find it hard to believe these days, but Mr. Hellyer does not recoil in fear [when he hears, ‘Allahu Akbar’],” states Nagourney…

“You see a really beautiful woman or a good-looking guy, you go, ‘Allahu akbar.’”

Nagourney does back bends to convince readers the phrase has been “seized on by jihadists,” much like Linda Sarsour when she tries to explain that “jihad” means nothing less than “struggle.” So, when she called for jihad against President Trump, she only means “resist.” Got it.

Yet, after all of the gymnatics, Nagourney finally concedes that “there is no denying that what it means can depend on who is saying it.” Yeah, we’ve noticed.

Contrary to what many people seem to think, the words “Allahu Akbar” simply mean “God is greater.” It is a powerful declaration used by Muslims on many occasions and in many prayers. It is a celebration of life, the first words fathers whisper in the ears of their newborns. They are used to indicate gratitude when God bestows something upon you that you would have been incapable of attaining were it not for divine benevolence. It is a prayerful phrase that reminds us that, no matter what our concerns may be, God is greater than them…

Is “Allahu Akbar” sometimes used as a battle cry? Yes, though as Sen. John McCain has argued on Fox News, that does not make the phrase itself abhorrent. While noting that “moderate Muslims” also say “Allahu Akbar,” McCain said the phrase is no more troubling that a Christian saying “Thank God.” TruthRevolt

Gregory Thatcher is listed as faculty in the Department of Public Health at Fresno State.

If you disagree with pro-life student activists, have a civil conversation with them. Especially if you’re a professor at a public university.

Gregory Thatcher agreed to pay $17,000 to such students and their lawyers to settle a First and Fourteenth Amendment lawsuit against the Fresno State University public-health professor, who is legally a “government official.”

Thatcher had sicced his class on the administration-authorized chalking by the Students for Life chapter this spring, falsely claiming the pro-life students could only chalk in a “free speech zone” eliminated years earlier, according to the suit filed by the Alliance Defending Freedom. He also joined in the de-chalking…

The ISIS returnees could slip through the cracks and not be noticed and watched. They could enter through our porous borders. Or enter back into the U.S. with false passports.

They willing joined ISIS and should face the full force of the law!

When it came to recruiting foreigners to flee the comforts of home for the battlefields of Iraq and Syria, ISIS succeeded like no other — encouraging more than 40,000 fighters from more than 110 countries to travel to the fighting fray both before and after the declaration of the “caliphate” in June 2014. Subsequently, authorities have warned about the threat of returning jihadists to their homeland and since the falls of Mosul, Raqqa and the rapidly receding footprint of ISIS, such fears have come to the forefront.

According to a new report, “Beyond the Caliphate: Foreign Fighters and the Threat of Returnees,” released this week by the Soufan Center — a Washington-based security intelligence consultancy — there are now at least 5,600 citizens or residents from 33 countries who have returned home — accounting for about 15 percent of the fighters.

Returning women and children.

Returning ISIS women is a complicated issue as many joined the fight willingly and engaged both in combat and effective recruitment of militants. Through careful assessment, those who fought willingly should be treated accordingly, along with their male counterparts,” surmised Tony Schiena, CEO of intelligence and security firm MOSIAC. “As far as indoctrinated children, they need to be placed in well-monitored de-radicalization and psychological programs and closely monitored until there is very little doubt of potential threat to civilians. Foxnews

The children of ISIS sympathizers were part of a radicalization process with few parallels in modern history. These children pose a danger to other children.

Dr. Jan Ilhan Kizilhan, a German-Kurdish trauma specialist, has treated hundreds of children traumatized by ISIS, including child soldiers and torture victims, in northern Iraq. He says organizations are dealing with children who have been exposed to executions, jail, torture, and sexual assault.

The experiences have fundamentally changed the way these children view the world.

“These children have observed a man-made disaster, a human killing machine, and as a result they have lost a trust in humans and humanity,” Dr. Kizilhan says.

Multiple health-care and aid specialists operating in northern Iraq listed the same symptoms among children: post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), aggression, anxiety, fear, and depression. Human interaction is difficult. When faced with any challenge or stress, the children’s first instinct is to respond with violence. CSMonitor

Beyond comprehension.

Looking into the camera, a baby-faced boy, no older than three years old, holds a teddy bear in left hand and a knife in his right.

In new footage which has emerged – believed to have been released by ISIS but its provenance unconfirmed – the boy then lifts his knife triumphantly into the air and a man behind the camera shouts ‘takfir!’ – a derogatory word used to describe non-believers.DailyMail

The anti-democracy of the Left – power and tearing down democracies all supported by George Soros.

There are stunning parallels between US Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe of alleged collusion between US President Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and Russia and the ongoing criminal probes against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara…

Mueller

And yet, despite the apparent absence of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, no one expects Mueller to close down shop. To the contrary…

Mueller’s move demonstrates that he does not view it as his job to incriminate or exonerate Trump regarding alleged collusion with Russia. Indeed, he doesn’t view it as his responsibility to investigate Russian involvement in the 2016 elections at all.

If he thought that was his job, then Mueller would not be expanding his writ to include alleged crimes carried out by Trump’s associates that any US attorney could be investigating. He would be expanding his probe to include the growing mountain of evidence of collusion on the part of Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, the Democratic National Committee and their attorneys, as well as Mueller’s friend and successor as FBI director, James Comey, with foreign agents, including Russian government officials, during and in the aftermath of the 2016 presidential campaign.

Mueller’s apparent refusal to follow the evidence where it leads him regarding Russian involvement in the 2016 elections and his decision instead to investigate any and all suspicions against Trump and his associates whenever the events in question may have taken place tells us that he views himself as a hunter, not an investigator. His prey is Trump.

Mandelblit

Netanyahu and the political Right won a massive electoral victory in 2015. For the first time in many years, the Right won indisputably. There are no coalition partners who place appeasing the PLO at the top of their governing agenda or even in the middle of their agenda.

Netanyahu and his political camp’s victory came as a shock to Israel’s elites. Led by the media, which was itself an adjunct of the anti-Netanyahu campaign, and assisted by the Obama administration, which siphoned US government funds into anti-Netanyahu political groups, Israel’s elites were flummoxed by the election results.

Shortly after the election, the anti-Netanyahu media, with the support of police investigators, went on a hunt to find something – anything – to force Netanyahu from office…

Netanyahu and the political Right won a massive electoral victory in 2015. For the first time in many years, the Right won indisputably. There are no coalition partners who place appeasing the PLO at the top of their governing agenda or even in the middle of their agenda.

Netanyahu and his political camp’s victory came as a shock to Israel’s elites. Led by the media, which was itself an adjunct of the anti-Netanyahu campaign, and assisted by the Obama administration, which siphoned US government funds into anti-Netanyahu political groups, Israel’s elites were flummoxed by the election results.

Shortly after the election, the anti-Netanyahu media, with the support of police investigators, went on a hunt to find something – anything – to force Netanyahu from office. In the end, all they could come up with were two otherwise absurd allegations.

The New Face Of The Left

In the Mueller probe and the incessant probes against Netanyahu, we see the new face of the Left. Unable to win elections, they exploit their control over the bureaucracy and media to overturn election results.

There can be no greater threat to the health of a liberal democracy than that.

Two things must happen for this situation to be corrected.

First, we must recognize what is happening and what it means for our systems of governance. Second, lawmakers in Congress and the Knesset alike need to stand up to the media and the legal fraternities and bravely restore the power to govern to those in whom the public has vested it. JPost

Hillsong Pastor Carl Lentz was asked a question on The View about abortion being sinful. Lentz confused two things.

The question of abortion being sinful has nothing to do with the spiritual disposition of the sinner and everything do with the objective nature of the act. Abortion is either a sinful action or it’s not. The only in-between is the culpability of the act, which only God can judge. If the question probed to Lentz were “do you condemn people who have abortions?” then his answer would be correct. That is not the case here, however.

The View

“So, it’s not a sin in your church to have an abortion?” pro-abortion host Joy Behar asked.

Lentz responded: “That’s the kind of conversation we would have finding out your story, where you’re from, what you believe. … I mean, God’s the judge. People have to live to their own convictions. That’s such a broad question, to me, I’m going higher. I want to sit with somebody and say, ‘What do you believe?’”

“So it’s not an open and shut case to you?” Behar asked.

“Some people would say it is,” Lentz responded. “To me, I’m trying to teach people who Jesus is first, and find out their story. Before I start picking and choosing what I think is sin in your life, I’d like to know your name.” DailyWire

Lentz separates the story of redemption from the story of sin. Lentz took a week to acknowledge that abortion is a sin

One wonders if Lentz would be so circumspect in his answer had he been asked whether racism is a sin. What if Joy Behar inquired as to the sinfulness of joining the KKK? Would the good pastor have insisted that Klan members are merely “living their convictions” and we ought to get to know them and their story before we start “picking and choosing”?

That’s the thing about these warm and fuzzy Christians who are allegedly too focused on loving people to bother denouncing evil: they seem rather selective. You’ll notice that they never, ever hesitate to call out bigotry, “homophobia,” “intolerance,” etc. They’re quite eager to rebuke Christians like me, who, in their opinion, are too forceful and “divisive” in our approach. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been personally and viciously condemned by the same Christians who are too “loving” to condemn child murder. It’s an odd thing, isn’t it? They seem to have developed this magnanimous and overriding tolerance only for the kinds of sins that are most popular in our culture. What a coincidence…

Of course, there are those who say that we ought to take it easy on Lentz and his ilk. Perhaps they don’t get all the theology exactly right, the argument goes, and perhaps they aren’t the best moral guides, but they still do quite a lot to bring people to Christ. Look at the size of his church! He must be doing something right!

Yes, he obviously appeals to a lot of people. So does internet porn. Yes, he makes people feel good. So does heroin. Yes, he gives his followers a vague sense of spiritual fulfillment. So does Buddhism. Yes, he spreads happiness, sort of. So does Disney. But shouldn’t a pastor deliver a message completely distinct from what a person can already gain through internet porn, heroin, Buddhism, and Disney films?

Here is the distinct message: Christ’s redemptive sacrifice on the cross, which opened up the doors of salvation. In his mea culpa statement, Lentz said that his goal is to tell the story of “God’s redemptive grace.” That’s a great story and exactly the one he should be telling.

However, it’s exactly the one he refused to tell on The View. You cannot separate the story of redemption from the story of sin. You cannot talk about salvation without talking about why we so desperately need to be saved. You cannot talk about Christ’s sacrifice without talking about the evil that necessitated it. You cannot talk about Christ’s cross without talking about the sin that nailed Him to it.

You cannot skip right over the hard stuff, the dark stuff, the challenging stuff, and go right to “hope.” What use is the cheap and easy “hope” of a person who has not acknowledged their own wickedness? You cannot see the stars during the day. You cannot appreciate the light of Christ’s love until you have seen and confronted the darkness of your own sin. Hope is found in the triumph of good over evil, not in the denial of evil itself. DailyWire

While reading these articles I was reminded of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s term “cheap grace.” The benefits of Christianity without the costs.

Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, communion without confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.

Grace alone does everything, they say, and so everything can remain as it was before. Instead of following Christ, let the Christian enjoy the consolations of grace! That is what we mean by cheap grace, the grace which amounts to the justification of sin without the justification of the repentant sinner who departs from sin and from whom sin departs. Cheap grace is not the kind of forgiveness of sin which frees us from the toils of sin. Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer: Cheap Grace vs. Costly Grace

This is what Senator Ted Cruz tried to fix, the Democrats filibustered it.

The Pentagon has known for nearly twenty years about major reporting lapses to the FBI of criminals within the U.S. military, The Associated Press reports.

The AP discovered a 1997 report that detailed massive fingerprint reporting lapses of military criminals with the U.S. Navy and the Navy failed to report 94 percent of cases. “The lack of reporting to the FBI criminal history files prevents civilian law enforcement agencies from having significant information on military offenders,” the report warned 20 years ago.

Military criminal reporting to the FBI has come under renewed scrutiny after former U.S. Air Force enlisted criminal Devin Kelley killed 26 people in a Sutherland Springs, Texas, church Sunday. Kelley, 26, was convicted of misdemeanor domestic assault under court martial in 2012, under U.S. law this should have barred him from ever purchasing a firearm. DailyCaller

On Fox News @ Night, Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) spoke of the legislation introduced with Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) in 2013 that was filibustered by Democrats, “would have resulted in this shooter being in federal prison instead of murdering those innocents in that Texas church.”

Devin Kelley lied on the ATF form 4473 he filled out before purchasing a gun. Senator Cruz blasted the Obama Administration for not prosecuting criminals who lied on forms when purchasing guns, which is a felony.

No disqualifying information showed up in the background check when it was completed because the Air Force had not sent the information on Kelly to the FBI, Senator Cruz stated it is “an endemic problem; it’s a problem at the federal government; it’s a problem with the states. ”

The federal and states need to send criminal information to the FBI database, which should be mandatory, and the government needs to enforce laws and pursue prosecution against those who lie on forms when trying to purchase guns.

Video: Sen. Ted Cruz reflects on the Texas church massacre

Ted Cruz: This should have been stopped beforehand. Under federal law, it was illegal for this individual to purchase a firearm. He had a conviction for a crime that is punishable by more than a year in prison; and he had a conviction for multiple domestic violence crimes. Both of those, it’s already ineligible. But, several things happened: number one, the Air Force, the Obama Administration didn’t report those convictions to the NCIS data base. That’s an endemic problem; it’s a problem at the federal government; it’s a problem with the states. And so, when he went in to buy the guns, they ran the background check, and they didn’t find it cause it wasn’t in the data base.

But I’ll tell you: we could have prevented this. In 2013, in the wake of Sandy Hook, I joined with Chuck Grassley, we introduced legislation that was called the Grassley-Cruz legislation, and it was aggressive legislation targeting felons and violent criminals to stop them from getting guns. There were a couple elements of that legislation that were critical: one, it mandated that federal agencies, including the Air Force, report to the NCIS because that was a problem back then.

But two, and this is an even more critical piece, it had been reported to the background, the background data base, when he went into Academy to buy these weapons, he lied on the forms. That is a felony, to lie on those forms. The Obama Administration didn’t prosecute those cases. In 2010, 48,000 felons and fugitives lied and illegally tried to purchase guns; they prosecuted only 44 of them.

Gun control for felons and fugitives yes, for individual citizens,” Cruz concluded, “for law-abiding citizens, no, and the Democrats filibustered the legislation that would have resulted in this shooter being in federal prison instead of murdering those innocents in that Texas church.

Devin Patrick Kelly should have been legally barred from owning guns. The Air Force failed to follow procedure, it did not submit Kelly’s criminal history to the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System.

The Air Force says a mistake allowed Devin Patrick Kelley to buy guns. On Sunday Kelley opened fire on a small church in Sutherland Springs, Texas.

The former airman had an assault-style rifle and two handguns — all purchased by him, according to federal officials — when he shot and killed 26 people.

He also had a known record of domestic violence. In 2012, while he was in the U.S. Air Force, he was court-martialed for assaulting his then-wife and stepson. He served a year in confinement at a Naval facility in California after a plea bargain.

Under federal law, his conviction disqualified him from legally possessing a firearm. But there was an apparent breakdown in getting information about his conviction to the proper federal database.

“Initial information indicates that Kelley’s domestic violence offense was not entered into the National Criminal Information Center database by the Holloman Air Force Base Office of Special Investigations,” said Air Force spokesperson Ann Stefanek in an email.

Top Air Force brass has ordered a complete review of the case…

An official at the Pentagon tells NPR’s Tom Bowman that a mistake resulted in neither the arrest nor the conviction being listed in the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, the database that would have flagged him as ineligible to purchase a firearm.

“This was mishandled by the Air Force Office of Special Investigations at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico, where Kelley was serving when he was arrested,” Tom reports. “An investigation is now underway, and the Air Force is taking it very seriously, said the source.” NPR

The victims ranged in age from five to 72, with two killed outside the church, 23 killed inside, and one person who died after medical transport, officials said…

And 34-year-old Amanda Mosel told MySA that her 13-year-old goddaughter was killed during the shooting. She said she was sad she skipped church this morning, but she normally attends that sermon. ‘It’s a small, tight-knit church,’ she said.

Annabelle Pomeroy

The first victim to be identified was Annabelle Pomeroy, whose father – First Baptist Church Pastor Frank Pomeroy – had been out of town during the attack. The grieving dad told ABC he’s lost ‘one beautiful girl, and a ‘special child.’

8 killed in one family. Bryan and Karla Holcombe. Marc Daniel Holcombe, Bryan and Karla’s son, died with his 18-month old son. Crystal Holcombe pregnant wife of John, Bryan and Karla’s son, died with three of her children: Emily, Megan, and Greg.

Sunday school teacher Karla Holcolmbe and her husband Bryan also died in the rampage,

Bryan Holcombe had been standing in for Pastor Frank Pomeroy when Kelley opened fire. Witnesses say he was the first victim to be struck by the shooter’s gunfire.

Crystal Holcolmbe eight-months-pregnant, a mom-of-five.

Bryan Holcombe was killed, alongside his wife of 25 years, Sunday school teacher Karla Holcombe, as well as their eight-months-pregnant pregnant daughter-in-law Crystal, a mom-of-five, local residents reported. Three of Crystal’s five children were also killed: Emily, Megan, and Greg.

Two northern Michigan natives were among the victims who died in the church shooting in Sutherland Springs, Texas. Robert Corrigan and Shani Corrigan from Harrison, MI were killed in the shooting that left 26 dead in Texas. Robert was retired from the United States Air Force and the couple has two sons on active duty, reported WWMT.

Joann Ward mother of 4 children.

Mother-of-four Joann Ward and her daughters Brooke, 6 and Emily, 7, were killed. Her Rhianna, 9, survived and her son Ryland, 5, is recovering in a San Antonio hospital.

Six-year-old Brooke (left) and eight-year-old Emily Garza (far right next to her sister Rihanna) were killed in the shooting according to their family. Nine-year-old Rihanna had her glasses shot off her face but survived.

More than 1 in 3 Californians, or 13.5 million people, are covered by Medicaid — more than the population of Pennsylvania. About 80% of those in California’s program are enrolled in a managed-care plan, in which insurers receive a fixed rate per person to handle their medical care. The goal is to control costs and better coordinate care.

In anticipation of the Obamacare rollout, officials in California and elsewhere boosted their payments to managed-care companies because they expected Medicaid costs to increase as newly insured patients rushed to the doctor or emergency room after going years without coverage. But those sharply higher costs didn’t materialize — and insurers pocketed more money as a result, especially in California. LATimes

W0w -Gigantic Profits!

Medicaid is rarely associated with getting rich. The patients are poor, the budgets tight and payments to doctors often paltry.

But some insurance companies are reaping spectacular profits off the taxpayer-funded program in California, even when the state finds that patient care is subpar.

Health Net, aunit of Centene Corp., the largest Medicaid insurer nationwide, raked in $1.1 billion in profit from 2014 to 2016, according to state data obtained by Kaiser Health News. Anthem, another industry giant, turned a profit of $549 million from California’s Medicaid program in the same period.

Overall, Medicaid insurers in the Golden State made $5.4 billion in profits from 2014 to 2016, in part because the state paid higher rates during the inaugural years of the nation’s Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare. Last year, they made more money than all Medicaid insurers combined in 34 other states with managed care plans. LATimes